2008: The year in spaceflight

2008 was a mixed year for spaceflight. China carried out its first spacewalk, India sent a probe to the Moon, and several private space vehicles took flight for the first time. But the news was dominated by concerns about NASA's long-term goals and a looming gap in US space access after the retirement of the space shuttle.

The year, which marked NASA's 50th anniversary, began inauspiciously, with media reports that the agency's Ares I rocket - intended to replace the space shuttle - suffers from vibrations that could endanger astronauts. Some engineers said the agency should consider alternative shuttle replacement vehicles. But NASA said the vibration problem can be fixed by incorporating springs into the rocket's design.

Ares I, which will loft Apollo-like capsules into orbit, could be ready to fly as early as 2015. But the space shuttle is due to retire in 2010, creating a five-year gap in US access to space flight. As the US presidential election heated up, both Barack Obama and John McCain pledged to do what they could to close this gap.

There was discussion about extending the shuttle's life, and Congress directed NASA to keep this option open for the next administration to consider. But some said an extension might not actually help matters, since it could pull resources away from the development of next-generation vehicles.

After the election, the US Government Accountability Office listed shuttle retirement as one of the most urgent issues facing Obama's incoming administration.

NASA was also sharply criticised for cost overruns by former associate science administrator Alan Stern. Days later, the agency announced that technical glitches would delay its ambitious Mars Science Laboratory rover, adding $400 million to the mission's cost.

With the prospect of a new administration and possibly new NASA leadership, various groups pushed for a focus on sending astronauts to Mars instead of the Moon, igniting a storm of controversy.

But Virgin Galactic will have a competitor in the space tourism industry. In December, California-based XCOR Aerospace announced it will sell rides aboard its two-seater spacecraft for $95,000.

From the South Pacific, rocket start-up SpaceX successfully launched its first rocket into orbit in September after three failed attempts. At the end of the year, NASA awarded $3.5 billion in contracts to SpaceX and rival firm Orbital Sciences to develop commercial cargo-carrying spacecraft. NASA plans to use commercial carriers to loft supplies to the International Space Station when the space shuttle is retired in 2010.

In March, the European Space Agency launched its first cargo ship into orbit, where it docked autonomously with the space station. It stayed there for six months before undocking and being sent to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Some argue that the robotic cargo ship should be modified to one day carry astronauts.

Challenge won

After three years of competition, some $1.65 million in prize money remains unclaimed. No team has yet completed the challenge's second level, which requires that a lander take off, hover for 3 minutes at 50 metres, land precisely on a simulated lunar surface, then repeat the feat in reverse.

The Rocket Racing League, which aims to bring NASCAR-style exhibitions to the skies, made its public debut of one of its rocket planes during an August airshow.

Soon after China's spacewalk, India launched its first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1. The spacecraft is the third lunar orbiter to launch in the last year and a half. Both Japan and Chinasent orbiters to the Moon in 2007. NASA's own robotic probe, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, was set to launch in December but was delayed to 2009 after a flight schedule swap with the US Air Force.

A mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, planned for launch in October, was also delayed after a glitch downed the telescope in September. The agency now hopes to launch the mission in May 2009.

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NASA's future took on a new level of uncertainty in 2008, with the election of a new president, delays in moving forward with the retirement of the space shuttle, and technical issues with the Ares I rocket, the shuttle's replacement. (Illustration: NASA)